''G.I. Jane'' is a 1997 action film directed by Creator/RidleyScott, starring Creator/DemiMoore and Creator/ViggoMortensen.

Senator Lillian [=DeHaven=] of Texas (Creator/AnneBancroft) publicly criticizes the United States Navy for its failure to integrate both male and female recruits to all its services. She strikes a deal, arranging for a series of test cases. A single woman will join each branch currently fully-staffed by males service and try to perform as well as her male colleagues. The first test case has Lieutenant Jordan O' Neil (Moore) joining the U.S. Navy Combined Reconnaissance Team.

The Lieutenant has to contend with the brutal training regime of Command Master Chief John James Urgayle (Mortensen), trumped up charges of being a lesbian (violating the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy), attempts to relegate her to desk jobs, and double-crossing allies. Her graduation test involves an actual operation in the Libyan Desert.

Not to confuse with ''Franchise/GIJoe''.

----!!The film features examples of:

* AbuseMistake: Jordan and her crew are out celebrating at a bar when she goes to use the restroom. As she washes her hands, another female customer pauses as she passes by and, spotting Jordan's badly bruised face, remarks "Ain't really none of my business, but I say 'leave the bastard'." before exiting, which causes Jordan to laugh. (The abuse really happened, but it was part of her special forces training.)* AllAbusersAreMale: Averted but mentioned. Jordan has a black eye (among other injuries) after her POW training. While at a bar in the bathroom, a fellow female bar patron sees it and says [[AbuseMistake "Not that it's any of my business, but I'd say dump the bastard."]]* AntiVillain: Urgayle ([[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains type IV]]) is a pretty decent guy outside of training. And even when he's making his recruits' lives hell, [[PunchClockVillain it's what they pay him to do]].* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:** The all-black office uniform with black slacks and long-sleeved shirts worn by Lt. O'Neil and the Captain when she arrives at the training center, while technically a proper uniform for the time period, is ''extremely'' rare in everyday use. Most officers would use a khaki version of that uniform with short sleeves.** When standing at attention just before training begins, all the trainees stand in ranks with their palms flat at their sides and arms fully extended in the European style. All American military branches stand at attention with their hands in fists and arms slightly bent so their hands sit at their hips.** Time-sensitive special teams training may put somewhat severe limits on the time allowed for food, but certainly not enough to compel trainees to shove each other through the galley just to down a few mouthfulls. On the contrary, such trainees are normally encouraged to eat heartily, as the consistent training requires an increased calorie input to keep up. And, for health reasons if nothing else, they certainly aren't forced to eat out of garbage cans.** The command master chiefs of any given command rarely involves himself with direct work in the same way Urgayle does with his instructors. The command master chief's job is to be the liason to the commanding officer in regards to matters and concerns involving enlisted personnel at the command. In a training command, he would have a say regarding the training cirriculum and preparation and in the guidelines as to how the instructors go about fulfilling such, but he personally would not be involved in the training evaluations himself.* ArtisticLicenseStatistics: Having 100% of a test set of 1 woman undergoing SEAL training pass or fail wouldn't prove anything. Especially since most men who apply for said training also fail.** Justified in that setting her up to fail was the explicit goal of putting her in the SEAL program, and someone who is actively seeking confirmation bias isn't going to be much interested in what the statistic would or wouldn't actually indicate.* BadassBoast: After one of the new recruits idiotically decides to laugh during Command Master Chief Urgayle's opening speech, the latter walks up to the recruit and responds with a boast where he basically compares himself to God.-->'''Urgayle:''' The ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides, the drift of the continents, the very position of the sun along its ecliptic. THESE are just a FEW of the things I control in my world! Is that clear?* BaldOfAwesome: Jordan's shaved head is spotlighted as essential to her training.* BaldWomen: Jordan.* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Jordan gets beaten all to hell during SERE training and has large grazes and scabs on her face for several scenes following. * CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Command Master Chief John James Urgayle is Captain Smooth (only once does he ever bark at a trainee), while his two subordinate instructors jointly fill the Sergeant Rough position.* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: The fact that Jordan used to be a Navy intelligence officer.]]* CorruptPolitician: Senator [=DeHaven=] [[spoiler:to the point where she frames Jordan for being a lesbian in order to avoid military bases closing in her home state of Texas.]]* {{Determinator}}: Jordan* DoubleStandard:** Jordan receives preferential treatment in her training at first such as being allowed an additional thirty seconds to finish a training course and being given an aid step for an obstacle, until she goes to her CO and points out that this is only making her male comrades resent her and defeats the purpose of the argument that women are equal, and demands it stop.** When Lt. Blondell, Jordan's physician, asks her why she's going through the training, Jordan asks if Blondell asks the men the same thing. {{Subverted|Trope}}; Blondell replies that she does ask the men the same question. ** During the POW training the interrogation instructor [[WouldntHitAGirl doesn't want to harm Jordan]], but Urgayle, understanding the necessity, has no such reservations and proceeds to beat her mercilessly, and even asks her while he has a headlock on her if he thinks they should treat the women differently to which Jordan screams, "Never!"* DrillSergeantNasty: Command Master Chief John James "Jack" Urgayle is a more sedate, erudite version, but no less nasty. He also personally conducts torture on Jordan for SERE training. He is however one of the few characters that displays no sexism, treating Jordan just like any of the other recruits, and doesn't seem to tolerate it either.* TheDulcineaEffect: Not stated outright but the RealLife equivalent of women in the military is used by Urgayle when he brutally beats Jordan in front of the male trainees during POW training in order to get information from them, and it proves more effective than interrogating the male trainees themselves, as they are clearly about to crack.* ForbiddenFruit: Jordan tells her boyfriend that the more she is tried to be forced out of the program, the more she wants to complete it.* ForcedToWatch: As part of their POW training, Urgayle brutally beats Jordan and pretends that he's about to rape her in front of the male trainees in order to get them to give up information.* GenderBlenderName: "Jordan" is both a male and female name.* GenderIsNoObject: The film's [[AnAesop aesop]] is that militaries should be this way. The main character runs into the gender barrier when she joins up for the grueling SEAL training program (even receiving preferential treatment at first that defeats the whole purpose of integration) not simply because she's a woman, but because MenAreTheExpendableGender.* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: Jordan uses the threat of this to get [[spoiler:Senator [=DeHaven=] ]]to drop the trumped-up charges against her.-->'''Jordan:''' If I have to ask anyone again, [[spoiler:Senator]], I'll be asking on C-SPAN. * ImportantHaircut: Jordan shaves her head during her special operations training.* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Used on the trainees during their POW training, most notably by Urgayle on Jordan. * JackieRobinsonStory: Pretty much the entire plot.* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Urgayle is a hardass, but he is shown to care about Jordan the same as any of his other trainees after she proves herself, and is a polite, refined gentleman in his off-duty hours. He is one of the few characters who Jordan's gender never seems to be an issue for, one way or another.* KillSat: The operation at the end of the movie is to recover one of these.* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Jordan discusses this with Senator [=DeHaven=] after [=DeHaven=] reveals [[spoiler: she had never intended for Jordan to succeed in the program, and it was all just a ruse to score political points.]]--> '''[=DeHaven=]''': The truth is, the choice isn't yours, and it isn't mine. American families are just not prepared to have their daughters and young mothers in harm's way.--> '''Jordan''': You don't know that. --> '''[=DeHaven=]''': Yes, I do. Roper, Paris, Gallup, all the polls, they all come back the same way.-->'''Jordan''': What are you saying? That a woman's life is more valuable than a man's? That a woman's death is more hurtful than a man's?-->'''[=DeHaven=]''': No politician can afford to let women come home in body bags, especially me.* MetaphoricallyTrue: [[spoiler:Jordan cannot pick up Urgayle by herself, but her heroism inspires her squaddies to help get him to safety. This is enough for Urgayle to give her his Navy Cross, which had been awarded to him "for pulling a 240-pound man out of a burning tank."[[note]]To her credit, she did drag him far enough out of the kill zone for the team to execute their ambush, which is the only reason they got Jordan and Urgayle out alive.[[/note]]]]* MultiTakeCut: Used in the scene in which Jordan shaves her head.* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. When Jordan moves into the male barracks, Slovnik is disgusted when he finds a box of tampons.* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "SUCK... MY... DICK!" Made into a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome by the fact that a shorn-haired and yet STILL uber-beddable Creator/DemiMoore (yes, a woman) is shouting it -- and into the face of a SuperSoldier of a NAVY SEAL who's acting as the mentor and had spent the last few minutes [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown kicking the crap]] [[WouldHitAGirl out of her]].* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: During the POW training, when Urgayle is brutally beating Jordan in front of the male trainees, he starts to cut off her pants as if he's about to rape her, simulating what would most likely happen if they were captured for real.* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: C.O. Salem gives one to Lt. O'Neil when he talks about the concessions he's had to make to accommodate her:-->'''Salem:''' Most of all what I resent is your perfume, however subtle, interfering with the scent of my fine three dollar and seventy-nine cent cigar, which I will put out this instant if [[FreudWasRight the phallic nature of it]] happens to offend your '''goddamn fragile sensibilities!'''* SensitivityTraining: Before the title character starts SEAL training, all of the instructors have to receive sensitivity training so they know not to sexually harass her.* ShowerScene: Jordan showers while Urgayle talks to her. * TheSquadette: Jordan.* StuffBlowingUp: When Lt. Blondell, Jordan's physician, asks her why she's going through the training. --> '''Jordan''' [[DoubleStandard Do you ask the men the same question]]?--> '''Blondell''' [[SubvertedTrope As a matter of fact, yes, I do ask them]]. --> '''Jordan''' And what do they say? --> '''Blondell''' Cause I get to blow shit up.--> '''Jordan''' Well, there you go.* ThingsGetReal: The final phase of training, an operational readiness exercise, is interrupted by an emergency that requires the CRT trainees' support: A reconnaissance satellite powered by weapons-grade plutonium fell into the Libyan desert, and a team of U.S. Army Rangers was dispatched to retrieve the plutonium, but their evacuation plan failed, and the trainees are sent to assist the Rangers.* TortureAlwaysWorks: Not stated outright, but Urgayle mentions how waterboarding is a very effective interrogation technique while Jordan is having it done on her for a training exercise.* TrainingFromHell: Jordan experiences Navy SEAL training, which is generally considered among the toughest, if not the toughest, training in the US military, including actual tortures like waterboarding (so they can learn to withstand torture if they fall into enemy hands). TruthInTelevision: SERE[[note]]Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape[[/note]] school is universally reviled by everyone that goes through it ''and'' everyone that runs it, specifically because normal, reasonable circumstances are thrown out. The only rules are: nothing sexual, and the trainee can't be ''killed''. Everything else is fair game. It messes with the trainees' heads (the thought that "They can't be allowed to do this" takes a while to go away), and the trainers' heads.* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: InUniverse. Jordan points out that she and Royce entered the Navy at the same time, but he's far more decorated. He counters that that's just because he "got lucky during the Gulf War," but she says that's the whole point.-->'''Jordan:''' Operational experience is a key to advancement. Yet anyone with tits can't be on a sub, can't be a SEAL...* WickedCultured: Master Chief Urgayle. A conoisseur of fine wine and poetry and reader of classic literature. In a rare twist, these traits are applied to a senior enlisted personnel rather than an officer where they would be more expected.* WouldntHitAGirl: During the POW training the interrogation instructor doesn't want to harm Jordan, but Urgayle, understanding the necessity, has no such reservations and proceeds to beat her mercilessly.